


Of Hawkeyes and Bartons

by kultiras, pyroblaze18 (kultiras)



Category: Hawkeye (Comics)
Genre: Brothers, Families of Choice, Gen, Hawkeyes are awesome, Team Dynamics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-25
Updated: 2013-12-25
Packaged: 2018-01-05 17:16:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1096490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kultiras/pseuds/kultiras, https://archiveofourown.org/users/kultiras/pseuds/pyroblaze18
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Kate returns to Clint's Bed-Stuy apartment, she's surprised to find a different Barton brother there than she's used to.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Hawkeyes and Bartons

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Beth H (bethbethbeth)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bethbethbeth/gifts).



> Written for bethbethbeth for Yuletide. was so excited when I got your assignment, and I tried to incorporate as many of your likes as I could. I really hope you like it!
> 
> Contains minor spoilers for the Hawkeye comics, through issue #14. There's also the odd Reference to Young Avengers and some other comics.

When Kate found herself standing in front of Clint’s Bed-Stuy apartment, she didn’t quite know what to expect. The building had still been standing, which was reassuring in its own way. As she passed Simone on her way to Clint’s place, she slowly started to wonder if things hadn’t changed at all in the building, if everything had remained the same while she was living—surviving, really—on the West Coast.

And then she opened the door, and realized a few things, one on top of the other. The first? It was possible to go home again, whatever that phrase really meant. The second? For all that Lucky had seemed happy with her in L.A. and on the road in general, he’d missed this place, and his other Hawkeye. The third? She wasn’t alone in that apartment, and the man standing in front of her was not Clint.

In a flash, she had her new bow at the ready, an arrow nocked and pointed at the vaguely familiar-looking stranger.

He looked back at her, not even phased by the arrow pointed at his chest. “You must be Katie,” he said.

“Kate,” she replied shortly. Though she remained focused on the man in front of her, she noticed that Lucky was staring at him in confusion, not alarm.

“Lucky? Come here,” she told the dog.

Instead of heeding her order, Lucky walked towards the other man and circled him before padding away towards the kitchen.

After another long moment of increasingly awkward silence, the guy spoke up, saying, “I thought you were out west.”

“Just got back,” Kate said.

“Right. Well Clint was supposed to be back yesterday, but I heard from Bobbi, and something big went down with the Avengers. They haven’t managed to locate him and a couple of others yet, but she thinks they’ll get them back today or tomorrow,” he said.

“Wait, Bobbi called?” Kate asked in disbelief, lowering her bow and arrow slightly. “I would have expected Natasha or Tony, or maybe even Cap. How long was I gone, anyway?”

“A few months,” he replied with a shrug. “You pretty much left the day after I got here.”

She lifted her weapon back up, and asked, “And who exactly are you?”

“I thought the face would have been a giveaway,” he said sarcastically, “But my name is Charles Barton. You probably know me better as Barney. I’m Clint’s—”

“Brother,” Kate said in shock. “You’re his brother.” She lowered her bow, loosening her hold on the arrow as she removed it and slid it back into her quiver. “Wait, didn’t you try to kill him? Actually, didn’t you die? I could have sworn he said his brother died,” she said.

“Oh c’mon. You took on the Hawkeye name when Clint was dead for a while, right?” Barney pointed out. “Weird shit happens to Hawkeyes. Trust me, I know that just as well as you do. And my little brother and I may have had some issues when we were younger, but at the end of the day we’re family. And sometimes that does matter more than the past.”

“So what’re you doing here?” Kate asked. She piled her stuff on the floor by the sofa, and walked into the kitchen to grab some coffee. She made a face as she grabbed the coffee pot, realizing that the coffee in it had gone cold ages ago. Kate started to rinse it out before she paused and looked back at Barney. “When was the last time either of you washed this?”

“Yesterday. Normally, I try to aim for daily though, since Clint’s too lazy to grab a mug half the time,” Barney replied with a laugh, as he sat at the kitchen island.

“I know, right?” Kate said as she started to wash the coffee pot. “Oh and don’t think I missed out on the fact that you haven’t answered my question.”

“I…I didn’t have anywhere else to go,” he said quietly, looking down at his hands. “I had nothing except a bag of clothes and odds and ends. I was living on the streets, begging for money, hell, I even let some jackasses beat me up so that I could get some cash. But when I called Clint, he told me I could come over.”

Barney looked back up at her. “I was just finishing up in the bathroom the morning that you took off. And I’ve been crashing on the sofa ever since. I‘ve been helping out around the building, fixing things whenever Clint’s not around.” He shrugged at her, “Something to do, right?”

“Yeah, I guess,” she replied. 

They remained silent for a while, drinking their coffee and watching Lucky investigate different corners of the apartment. Barney was trying to think of something to say, while Kate was thinking about what he’d already said. 

"So you—" Barney began as he broke the silence. 

At the same time, Kate said, "Earlier you said—"

They blinked at one another, each waiting for the other person to finish their sentence. 

"You first," Barney finally said. 

Kate nodded, then started from the beginning again. "Earlier you said you knew that weird things happen to Hawkeyes. The way you said it made it sound like you weren't just talking about Clint."

"That's 'cuz I wasn't. You and my brother aren't the only people to go around as Hawkeye," he replied. 

"You're Hawkeye too?" Kate asked in disbelief. 

"Past tense. I was called Hawkeye for a short while, around the time that Clint thought I was dead."

"Why'd you give it up?" She asked. 

Barney looked at her thoughtfully. When he answered her, he seemed to have chosen his words carefully. “I’m not cut out to be a Hawkeye,” he said.

“Care to elaborate on that? I swear you Bartons don’t explain anything unless you have to,” Kate muttered. 

“It’s…there’s a lot of bullshit that comes with being Hawkeye. We grew up in the shadows and on the sidelines. Clint…he found a way out of that, and I tried, but I can’t take that same way out. I just can’t,” Barney explained. 

“Being Hawkeye, it’s not just shooting at bad guys,” he continued. “There’s rules, there’s dealing with press, keeping out of trouble—in theory at least‚ and there’s always someone else who’s calling the shots. There’s a lot of teamwork involved in being an Avenger, or even a SHIELD agent, and I can’t handle it,” Barney said. 

“Yeah, there’s a lot of that with my team too, with the added bonus of knowing that if we screw up too much, the “real” Avengers will interfere with our work,” Kate said.

“I bet.”

“So you don’t miss being Hawkeye? Because I stopped being Hawkeye for a while, and I was miserable.”

“I don’t know. Maybe if I’d had other Hawkeyes around, things would have different. Maybe I’ll become Hawkeye again some day. I’m just trying to be a better version of me right now. Plus, I don’t think there’s room for three Hawkeyes in the world.”

They lapsed into silence again, but this time it didn’t have the same awkward feeling as it did before. 

“So you have no idea where Clint is?” Kate asked.

“Bobbi’s betting on the Savage Lands again.”

“And you?”

“Trapped in a different dimension,” he replied with a smirk.

“He so would manage that. Put me down for ‘Lost in Space’ somewhere,” Kate said. “It’s bound to happen sometime, if it hasn’t already.”

“It might have happened already,” Barney said, “It sounds like something that would happen to the Avengers.”

“Space isn’t that bad, as long as you’re with someone, I don’t know why they have so many issues with it.”

Barney looked at her in surprise. “You’ve been?”

“A guy on my team, we sorta hooked up before we became teammates. Turns out he’s an alien. Who knew right? We went back to his place, and it turns out that his place is more of a spaceship.”

“Huh.”

“Yup.”

“Want to watch something on tv while we wait on Clint to turn up again eventually?” Barney asked.

“Yeah, why not. I’ve kinda missed Clint’s weird choices in tv shows.”

“Hey! Dog Cops isn’t that weird.”

“Maybe not, but he still needs to watch more shows.”

“He needs more hobbies in general,” Barney replied. “He’s missed you, you know. You and the dog.”

“You know what? We kinda missed him too. Things are harder without another Hawkeye around to have your back,” Kate said.

“That they are,” Barney replied. “But it’s Clint. You know he’ll always be there for you whenever he can.”

“Same goes for you,” Kate said. “You may not be a Hawkeye right now, but you’re his brother. He’s not going to turn his back on you if he can help.”

"He probably should. I haven't exactly been the best brother to him."

“Maybe not, but when has anything like that ever stopped Clint?” Kate asked.

“True. He never gives up, even when the odds are against him,” Barney agreed.

“And that’s why he’ll be fine—or mostly fine at least—when he gets back from wherever he’s disappeared to,” she said.

Barney smiled in response and turned on the tv as they settled in to watch random shows while waiting for their missing Hawkeye to return.


End file.
